This week, I joined Senator Barbara Mikulski at the official opening of the Cyber Innovation Center at SAIC, which will support the acceleration of new cyber solutions, research and training around the nation's key challenges  right there in Howard County.

We've positioned our state to remain the nation's epicenter for this emerging industry. Maryland companies are developing some of the most advanced cyber security technologies anywhere in the world. Maryland's strength and foresight in this new industry is one of the reasons the federal government selected our State to be the home of the new U.S. Cyber Command. In order to prepare our workforce for the cyber security jobs coming to our state, we've launched workforce training initiatives in the cyber security field and we are continuing to invest in cyber security curriculum development.

In our nation-leading schools, as we continue to recruit and retain the world's best educators, we're preparing our children for the jobs of tomorrow. Yesterday, I joined the southeast Baltimore community to celebrate the five year anniversary of the Patterson Park Public Charter School. In the last four years, we've doubled the number of charter schools and made record investments in public schools.

In a time when virtually every other agency in state government has experienced cuts, our schools have remained funded at record levels, so our teachers have the tools they need to prepare our students for the next generation of jobs. And we're committed to creating those jobs right here in Maryland.